Monday, 13 August 2012

as the jubilations and celebrations come to an end (apart from the Paralympics!) i finally bought something patriotic. picked up this fab deckchair on sale in Argos (£17.99) today and spent a few hours in the garden reading in the sun...till it started raining...here we go again. its good for the flowers tho.....

my Borage plants, grown from seed, are coming along nicely and i picked some of the lovely blue flowers today and popped them in an ice cube tray - apparantly they have a cucumber flavour so should be perfect for gin & tonics later!

couldn't resist a spoonful

and while the rain drizzled i ran inside to whip up a rhubarb and ginger sort of soft crumbly cake, which i'm looking forward to eating after my bowl of mussels. tonight i am rather spoiling myself it seems!

finally using [yet another useless thing i tend to buy] the silver mussel grabber!

Tuesday, 7 August 2012

i have, of late, become rather fond of a little stray black cat that has been turning up in the garden. i have been feeding her on and off and watched her belly grow as i soon realised she is having kittens.

she gets a little box, lined with some old clothes

which then gets moved into the summerhouse...and another lodger moves in!

i've progressed from just feeding, to making up a wee box for her to lie in under the summerhouse awning, to moving the box into the summerhouse....and tonight she actually came indoors and let me stroke her.

a bit of rain outside brings her into the flat and, against all reason, she takes up residence under the rocker (ouch!)

i am totally being suckered in - she is so sweet and tiny and i secretly can't wait for the kittens to arrive (hopefully in the box provided!). once they are born i will find homes and might even keep one (and mum) and will have to tackle deworming, the fleas and getting her spayed. being a die hard dog lover this is causing some difficult feelings - i never saw myself as, or wanted to be, a cat-lady (i am quite allergic - but this doesn't stop me wanting to stroke any friendly cat i meet!) - but i just think our friendship is meant to be. this brilliant illustration by Lizzy Smith sums it up perfectly: